the plot: A string of masterfully planned, seemingly unrelated crimes sweep Berlin. Inspector Lohmann's (Wernicke) investigation hits a dead end until his former partner provides a vital clue. It turns out the crimes, from counterfeiting rings and stock market fraud to robberies and murder, are all being orchestrated by one man: the sinister Dr. Mabuse, renowned psychiatrist, hypnotist and evil mastermind. However, Mabuse has been locked away in an asylum, catatonic for the last decade-seemingly in a trance, he's written down all his evil plans, a testament that's a blueprint for an "empire of crime." Kent (Diessl), one of the ringleaders of Mabuse's gang, decides to go to the police and expose the whole operation. As Kent's criminal colleagues make plans to do in the turncoat, Lohmann makes a chilling discovery: though Mabuse has died, the mad doctor's machinations are coming to fruition.

why it's good: Fritz Lang's Mabuse films (he also directed 1922's Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler and 1960's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse) formed the prototype for everything from the noir films of the late 1940s to the Bond villains of the 1960s and '70s. Testament is a huge, almost epic crime story that also serves as a prescient allegory for the takeover of Germany by the Nazis. Dr. Mabuse is the superman gone wrong, a brilliant intellectual who uses his prowess for absolute evil, just because he can. And, like a certain mustachioed dictator, Mabuse inspires fanatical loyalty to the point that he will kill members of his own gang if they disagree with him in even the slightest way. It's a bleak picture-although Mabuse is (sort of) captured at the end, the police are never able to stop all of his schemes, and the seeds for his criminal empire are left to germinate.

why you should own it: Testament is a dark, compelling noir film that fans of the genre would be remiss not to have in their collection. The two-disc Criterion edition of the film has a new digital transfer with restored image and sound, the complete French-language version of the movie (filmed simultaneously by Lang with a French cast), excerpts from a 1964 interview with Lang and more.